1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of operating, storing and a portable articulating conveyor device including a base having means for releasably affixing the base to a support surface and means for moving the base with respect to the support surface, a first conveyor rotatably attached at a first end to the base by an articulating member, and a second conveyor moveably attached to the base by a vertical conveyor elevation device. The first conveyor is configured to move by the articulating member between a first horizontal position supported on the support surface and a second inclined position and is configured to transport items onto the second conveyor. The second conveyor in a first operating position is configured to receive items from the first conveyor and convey items in both a horizontal direction and a vertical direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conveyors are typically designed to move items placed thereon without any need of a user's intervention. Such conventional conveyors are found in most material handling systems and are specifically designed to handle goods delivered to the conveyor in a predictable and repeatable manner. Typically, most conveyors typically operate in a fixed location and are not designed to be moved in a compact manner, or moved at all.
This problem of portability restricts most conveyors to fixed locations and prevents conveyors to be used in material handling operations where a high degree of reconfiguration is required. Additionally, most conveyors are not adapted to receive items at varying heights from a plurality of users. These deficiencies are most evident in passenger baggage handling systems in the transportation field where passengers deposit hand carried luggage on conveyor systems for carriers to prepare to transport or for security screening purposes. Each passenger has luggage of varying weights and sizes just as each passenger has various physical abilities capable of lifting their luggage for deposit on a baggage handling system. Thus, typical material conveyors cannot accommodate users with limited physical ability trying to place heavy items at or beyond their physical strength into a conveyor system.
Thus, such a conventional conveyor system requires that transportation employees or security officials assist those users with limited physical ability trying to place heavy items at or beyond their physical strength into a conveyor system. This temporary reallocation of personnel places a burden on the efficiency of systems that the material handling system itself is designed to assist, and thereby causes increased work-related injuries on the assisting reallocated personnel and a slowdown in the throughput of items to be checked and passengers to be screened.
Applicant's invention addresses these problems by providing a novel conveyor that provides increased ease of access for users to place items into a material handling system, and versatility of the conveyor to be portable and easily reconfigured for integration with multiple conveyance systems or operating modes.